MaRLo is high flying at the moment in the Trance scene, but he talks about the hard tasks of his job including jet-lag, being away from family and much more.

One of the fastest growing trance artists out there has to be MaRLo. This is an artist who has had heavy support from A State Of Trance and Armin van Buuren. His releases have always been top class, as well as his DJ sets, which many look forward to hearing from the Australian artist. This guy however, you can tell he has never lost his down to earth nature, no matter how much he has achieved. A real family man, one who loves music and one who will continue to love music. But kicking off the interview with MaRLo was his touring schedule and how he gets about.

“That’s the hardest part, the flying is one thing but you land in a different time zone, but it’s not just that. We’re all sitting in jackets here, but when I left Sydney I was in a T-Shirt, so it’s constant to different climates. You can go from snow one day and tropical conditions to the next, with very little sleep. It’s brutal, it’s punishing to do that but people don’t realise until they do it themselves. Most weekends you’re sleeping very little and flying a lot, but it’s not that bad because you’re doing exactly what you have dreamed of doing“.

Which is where I pitched in with your doing the job you love, the job you have dreamed of and this comes with the job. “One hundred percent, once you catch yourself feeling negative about what you’re doing in any way, you have to remember that this is everything you want to do. It’s a hard fight, it’s hard to get to where you want to be. You have to invest so much love, so much energy, so much effort and when you reach the point to quit your day job, then jumping on a plane and doing what you love isn’t an issue“.

But as I have already mentioned, this touring life is sure to take it’s toll on family life. MaRLo has his own family back home in Australia, as well as the fact that he is touring all over the world, performing different shows and doing his dream job. But there are issues and he goes into detail about these. “I’m a married man, I miss my wife like crazy when I go away and it’s really tough on her as well. Last year was really hard, I’d be away for six weeks, home for a few days, away for three weeks, back for a few days, it’s not fun for your relationship“.

Luckily though, he spoke about how things have changed, how things have been done better this year. “This year we planned our tours a lot more efficiently, my wife comes along with a lot of the tours now and we also moved to Sydney where her family are from and my Mum is from, and we have a better infrastructure now so that when I’m away, there’s a lot more help.” When listening to MaRLo talk about this, sometimes you forget about the energy and passion which is put into a musician’s career, and the strain and stress that they are going through as well. It’s not all fun and games.

Moving on from this though, we got into the gritty talk about influences and music. Aphex Twin, The Prodigy amongst others were named as key influences by MaRLo and he explains, after he told us “we had done our research“, why these artists influence him as an artist, with such a broad spectrum.

“It’s easy to fall into a trap that when you like a song, then you convince yourself to like every song with the same style and I’ve fallen victim to that. But if you let go of that, and trust your own ears and taste, just like what you like that, then you find yourself with a better spectrum. Aphex Twin was one of the main influences, with ‘Come To Daddy’ and then I came across ‘Window Licker’ and then I delved a bit deeper into his older stuff. Richard James, who’s insane, he makes his own instruments, he was a huge inspiration to me for ‘thinking outside of the box’.“

MaRLo also carried on with this by saying that by thinking outside of the box, and then building on this, you can then “go back to the rules and do it better” after breaking the rules. “The Prodigy, the first time I heard ‘Firestarter’ on the radio, I was blown away and then I looked into their back catalogue with ‘Experience’ album and stuff. Those aggressive, weird sounding tracks really inspired me“.

Now MaRLo is now one of the go-to artists within the trance scene. The trance scene has been one which has floated around, it’s been there for a very long time, but it seems to grow and disappear with regards to popularity. Which is were the conversation heated up with regards to its current position. “I think you’re absolutely right with trance always being there, with it growing and getting smaller but with it being big or small, I think it depends on content. One track that everyone is excited about can change a whole scene as everyone gets excited, it’s a little spark and the producers who haven’t done anything begin to work. I think everyone just waits for that next spark“.

“It’s mind-blowing to know there are so many dedicated fans out there. I spend hours and hours and hours in the studio to make music because I love it, I don’t make it for anyone else, not to impress or please anyone, I make it because I have to. It’s an outlet for me, an expressive outlet. So when it’s well received or if someone has connected with it, or affected by it in some way, it’s hugely flattering.“

And rounding off the interview with MaRLo and we got into what was next for the artist. “I’m in the process of building a new studio so I haven’t been able to do very much over the last few months. But my studio will be finished in December, and I’m excited to spend more time in there. I have a few tracks signed as well, and they’ll come out over the months so there won’t be a quiet period. I also have my next track ‘Leave My Hand’ with Emma Chatt, and I have a few collaborations on the way. My one with Armin and a few others. The main thing though is to bring my ‘Altitude’ concept production tour worldwide“.

Big plans for MaRLo over the coming months, and keep an eye out for the upcoming singles and potential ‘Altitude’ world tour that should be in the making for next year.

Marlo.

One of the fastest growing Trance artists out there has to be MarLo. This is an artist who has had heavy support from A State Of Trance and Armin Van Buuren. His releases have always been top class, as well as his DJ sets, which many look forward to hearing from the Australian artist. This guy however, you can tell he has never lost his down to earth nature, no matter how much he has achieved. A real family man, one who loves music and one who will continue to love music. But kicking off the interview with MarLo was his touring schedule and how he gets about.

“That’s the hardest part, the flying is one thing but you land in a different time zone, but it’s not just that. We’re all sitting in jackets here, but when I left Sydney I was in a T-Shirt, so it’s constant to different climates. You can go from snow one day and tropical conditions to the next, with very little sleep. It’s brutal, it’s punishing to do that but people don’t realise until they do it themselves. Most weekends your sleeping very little and flying a lot, but it’s not that bad because you’re doing exactly what you have dreamed of doing“.

Which is where I pitched in with your doing the job you love, the job you have dreamed of and this comes with the job..

Marlo.

But as I have already mentioned, this touring life is sure to take it’s toll on family life. MarLo has his own family back home in Australia, as well as the fact that he is touring all over the world, performing different shows and doing his dream job. But there are issues and he goes into detail about these. “I’m a married man, I miss my wife like crazy when I go away and it’s really tough on her as well. Last year was really hard, I’d be away for six weeks, home for a few days, away for three weeks, back for a few days, it’s not fun for your relationship“.

Luckily though, he spoke about how things have changed, how things have been done better this year. “This year we planned our tours a lot more efficiently, my wife comes along with a lot of the tours now and we also moved to Sydney where her family are from and my Mum is from, and we have a better infrastructure now so that when I’m away, there’s a lot more help.” When listening to MarLo talk about this, sometimes you forget about the energy and passion which is put into a musicians career, and the strain and stress that they are going through as well. It’s not all fun and games.

Marlo.

Moving on from this though, we got into the gritty talk about influences and music. Aphex Twin, The Prodigy amongst others were named as key influences by MarLo and he explains, after he told us “we had done our research“, why these artists influences him as an artist, with such a broad spectrum.

It’s easy to fall into a trap that when you like a song, then you convince yourself to like every song with the same style and I’ve fallen victim to that. But if you let go of that, and trust your own ears and taste, just like what you like that, then you find yourself with a better spectrum. Aphex Twin was one of the main influences, with ‘Come To Daddy’ and then I came across ‘Window Licker’ and then I delved a bit deeper into his older stuff. Richard James, who’s insane, he makes his own instruments, he was a huge inspiration to me for ‘thinking outside of the box’.

Marlo.

MarLo also carried on with this by saying that by thinking outside of the box, and then building on this, you can then “go back to the rules and do it better” after breaking the rules. “The Prodigy, the first time I heard ‘Firestarter’ on the radio, I was blown away and then I looked into their back catalogue with ‘Experience’ album and stuff. Those aggressive, weird sounding tracks really inspired me“.

Now MarLo is now one of the go-to artists within the Trance scene. The Trance scene has been one which has floated around, it’s been there for a very long time, but it seems to grow and disappear with regards to popularity. Which is were the conversation heated up with regards to it’s current position. “I think your absolutely right with Trance always being there, with it growing and getting smaller but with it being big or small, I think it depends on content. One track that everyone is excited about can change a whole scene as everyone gets excited, it’s a little spark and the producers who haven’t done anything begin to work. I think everyone just waits for that next spark“.

Marlo.

“It’s mind-blowing to know there are so many dedicated fans out there. I spend hours and hours and hours in the studio to make music because I love it, I don’t make it for anyone else, not to impress or please anyone, I make it because I have to. It’s an outlet for me, an expressive outlet. So when it’s well received or if someone has connected with it, or affected with it in some way, it’s hugely flattering.”

And rounding off the interview with MarLo and we got into what was next for the artist. “I’m in the process of building a new studio so I haven’t been able to do very much over the last few months. But my studio will be finished in December, and I’m excited to spend more time in there. I have a few tracks signed as well, and they’ll come out over the months so there won’t be a quiet period. I also have my next track ‘Leave My Hand’ with Emma Chap, and I have a few collaborations on the way. My one with Armin and a few others. The main thing though is to bring my ‘Altitude’ concept production tour worldwide“.

Big plans for MarLo over the coming months, and keep an eye out for the upcoming singles and potential ‘Altitude’ world tour that should be in the making for next year.